natterberry 

Damn...

merziac

Mineral oil for leather, not sure about new fangled rubber/plastic bits,

Nemosengineer 

Laser alignment beats a pile of dial indicators any day and comes with stainless Wipperman chain!!!

20200911_090518 by nemosengineer, on Flickr

thumpism 

I just use a dab of grease or a few drops of oil. Did not get into that with either of these since the chuck or the hose is the issue right now. I have had to install a slightly larger metal washer under the leather washer once to get it to press against the barrel wall more strongly.

JacobLee 

Bought a set of Craigslist wheels. Immediate buyers remorse, but who knows, they might be okay with a little care. Mismatched nipples and spokes replaced on the front (didn’t notice) and a frozen nds locknut on the back. Tried every combo of wrench and cone wrench and PBlaster before resorting to the impact wrench. Sometimes impact is the most gentle solution. One tap and it loosened right up.



600 hubs and cones and races look great, so it’ll all work out in the end.

Can anyone ID the rim? It’s got a mild aero profile, 19mm wide.

cog_nate 

Finally got this Axis more or less the way I want it:

(Celeste bottle cage because it's a Bianchi, it needs celeste somewhere.)

Rides smoove. The only thing I can think to improve upon is the stem. I think I'd prefer a Technomic... cliched I know, but my back doesn't care.

bargo68 

Pretty much done on my mid 70's Peugeot PR10. This was an assemblage of online purchases that came together quite nicely. The frame as purchased had a bottom bracket in place that is smooth and has no slop, so that headache was avoided. The cockpit was a swap-over from a Gitane that was too small for me, so I sold the frame and used the bars, stem, brake levers, FD and cable guides/clamps. I tried to stay pretty period/catalog correct except for the wheelset. I was not finding any nice Normandie hubs laced to Mavic Module E or Super Champion rims on th'bay, so I splurged on some Campagnolo Lambda Strada laced to Super Record high flange hubs. I was able to fit 32mm GP4 seasons and all said, it rolls very nicely! It will need some more dialing in, and because it's a French bike, I'm certain my headaches are not a thing of the past. I can see what people mean by the sweet ride of this frame, though! I'm looking forward to getting to know this bike better.

ryansu

Not so much wrenching as cleaning up. I got this bike from the recent Co-op warehouse sale. I have a buddy looking for a trainer bike and I thought this 85 Trek 420 might work but its too small. So I am going to list it on CL as a rideable project and hope to recoup my costs.


As found, flat tires and horrible saddle

tires full chain clean and waxed, better saddle etc

randyjawa 

Used up two packages of Velox cloth tape, today, just to tape one set of bars. I was foolish enough to try to tape with the brake lever bodies in place - never again! Anyway, I started over...

With my poor eyesight and left hand not working all that well (arthritis in my thumb and hurts like the blazes), I found it to be very difficult for me to tape the bars. I removed the levers, and using PVC tape, I secured the lever clamps into place(I used silicone seal to sort of glue the lever body bolt nuts into place also)...




Then I taped the bars with buckets of sweat but did manage to get em done (not my best ever taping job)...


Polished up the brake calipers...


Tomorrow, transmission and a few final touches should make this old steed or steedette good to go...

Mr. 66

Very impressive build, I'm doing a similar build that also pulled the stem and bars from a Gitane TdF. I was able to find Normandy High flange of the day and rebuilt and strung them on some black Araya rims. Since the pictures I've been able to find some Mafac levers with crusty hoods. Currently on 32mm Continental tires. I've also included the Mafac tool pouch, horrible tools but freaky great for setting the brake calipers.

bargo68 

Thanks for the compliment and back at ya. I'm still pretty wet behind the ears when it comes to wrenching, but the process is so fun and the results are so satisfying!
I got pretty lucky that everything went together as well as it did. My only real misstep thus far has been purchasing a Simplex rear derailleur that has a hanger and of course all the little quibbles of working on French bikes.
I'm waiting on a set of Kool Stop Mafac replacement pads and a handlebar mounted bottle cage. The shake down rides have gone well and I will be trying it out as a daily commuter soon.
Love to see pix when yours is done!

AustinFitz

Several years ago I picked up this hideous 1987 Ross Centaur that someone had appropriately dubbed "The Plague Rat". It had been beat up, spray bombed, sticker bombed, and even painted with a brush... It's way too big for me, and I have no idea why I even bought it other than the fact that it was only $10. I figured I'd probably just use it for parts, but for some odd reason I got the urge to attemp cleaning it up. I guess it just seemed like a good challenge! Anyway, this is what I was starting with... Yes, that is a plastic rat attached to the stem lol.



It's not a project that I was really all that serious about, so I just worked on it every now and then whenever I was bored and in the mood. It was slow going, but I saw that I was going to be able to remove the black spray paint without destroying the original hot pink underneath.



I don't have any other pink bikes in my stable, or any others with indexed downtube shifters, so I figured that was reason enough to build it. I really didn't want to spend any cash on it, so most of the parts are original to the bike. I did switch out the original 27" wheel (front wheel was missing when I got it) for some Campagnolo grand sport hubs laced to 700c Sun Rims. I'm still in the process of finishing it up, but I'm actually a bit surprised that it looks as good as it does considering what I started with! I did decide to leave that one sticker on the downtube just because it matches the paint almost perfectly.

Lattz

Fooling around with the "tiny EGOist". Finally had some time to remove the remainings of the triathlon bar end Grip Shifts, installed a new Miche 8s cassette as the crank jumping didn't stop after adjusting the RD hanger.
Dropped on the first parts of the black Mirage group to see if its working (hell yeah!!!!) and if it looks good (hell no!!!). As my original idea was to keep the cockpit nice and clean I was about to leave them 600 tricolor brake levers on with tricolor DT shifters, while it felt good, now would like to see if the Chorus 8 ergos can do the job with a Centaur carbon RD if yeah, the I'll go for the chrome parts. As either way it will be a Frankenbuild, now having a "somewhat" working solution (8sp campy/Miche casette, 9 speed Mirage RD, 7 speed Tricolor DT shifter, Ultegra crank - works like a charm minus 1 gear) I'm mixing and matching the various parts to learn for future references... I know myself, once I find an option which works and looks good enough, I'll disassemble, paint, reassemble and never touch again. If I run out of options, the I'll just buy a Chorus 8sp RD and a BB (as only these two are missing, but until it is an absolute must, I refuse to invest even 1 EUR in the project besides the normal consumables) and it will have a full Chorus group, but I'm not here yet.

If anyone has experience routing cables for Ergopower on bullhorns, please speak up. I have seen brake lever turned upside down on such bars, and now I got the point, but with the ergo it is not an option.


This photos is like the darkest hour, whatever I'd change, it can only be better. Has one piece of almost everything I have, already with new cassette but not a single Chorus yet.

eom 

My son wanted to change his Schwinn Impact from eighteen speeds to one.

New Velo Orange hubs and Sun CR18 rims from our LBS.
Pillar 2.0/1.8 spokes from Lee Kilpatrick.

The frame has semi-horizontal drop outs but the drive side was half length, a cast in spacer for lack of a better name. I had to hacksaw that out so both were the same length and gain enough take up for the chain.

Bottom bracket & headset both needed serviced so I figured I might as well give it a good wax job while I had it stripped.

UN-55 BB and new bearings in headset. Installed a lighter weight crank from the stash. 46t chainring from stash, no more Bio-Pace for now.

Luc mentioned his brakes squealed, so he got Paul Touring canti brakes and new pads from the stash. Reused his brake levers cause that's what he wanted. He does not share my love for old school four finger levers. Maybe someday.

Salsa Salt Flat 2 bars cause he wanted to try wider. This required more Grip Rings in his color scheme.
Shimano SLR cables & housing. Surly BRH30 rear cable housing stop. Fork crown front housing stop required a low straddle cable so I made tiny "fender" as a safety precaution. The file marks in the photo look big but really aren't. Wabi-sabi.

Thanks to abshipp for helping with the gearing choice.

JacobLee 

My daughter had to make a rubber band car for 6th grade science. The front hub from our Schwinn Twinn made a great drive wheel.

brandenjs

It must have been Impact work week. I finished mine up on Wednesday and took it out to the D&L Trail near Jim Thorpe Pa. over the weekend. Really liking the black chrome plating on these. Fun bikes!

pcb 

Noice! Very nice, clean job on the front cable stop/straddle-catcher. And every bike deserves Pauls.

Lucky for son to have a pops with so much cool stuff in his stash. Lucky pops to have a son who rides and appreciates all the cool stuff.

pcb 

Decided to get a 40t Zephyr Tripelizer ring for the Riv, to get the fder up a bit higher, let me use the BBG bash guard, and the very slightly higher gears wouldn't hurt. Got the Zephyr ring, tried to install it, then came face-to-fact once again with my stupidity. Zephyr is 110bcd, Alize is 130bcd. See, it says "Alize" right there on the chainring, and I spent a fair amount of time staring at the chainring during the build, then taking the photos, then editing the photos. They're even on opposite sides of the alphabet. D'oh!

Returned the Zephyr, got the Alize, hooked it all up and it works good. Might get a silver BBG, or bust up a 41t silver ring, to keep it silvery.

Managed a couple of rides, very sweet-riding frame. Front end is quick than I expected, in a good way.

Shifting the 8spd cassette with friction dt shifters wasn't impossible, but it was not enjoyable. Have some new Sora levers on the way, prolly keep the Silver shifter on the left/front. Every Riv should have at least one entry-/mid-level part somewhere.

Apologies for the messy background.

billnuke1 

Just got these two Raleighs...pretty much unridden...neither bike will down shift the rear derailleurs...bathed with WD40...blown out a couple of times...no change...am I missing something?
Haven’t stopped to research this phenomenon...

JacobLee 

I remember an era of early trigger shifters that were notorious for sticking. WD-40 might work eventually. During my short stint in a shop, we would try to replace them because even if we did get them working, they would eventually stop again. It’s a foggy memory, though, with no recent experience. You probably checked the cables and housing.

billnuke1 

Got’em! There’s a little pawl. a very little pawl, that was stuck in open position, I freed it up to work, well, freely...second bike will get the same, but abridged attention...

non-fixie 

Wrenching may be too big a word, but I did some cleaning and it did involve a 9mm wrench.

I found some very gunked-up derailleurs on a bike I recently bought. Usually I just throw them in a box for "later", but these appealed to me, and it was raining, so mowing the grass was out.

Before:







After:



Very gratifying, this.

billnuke1 

Cyclones good...

scarlson 

Monitor top refrigerator. Pictured is the standard GE service port, with Bristol spline purge screw. A Torx will fit, but won't do much good because while it would open the port to let refrigerant out, you need appropriate fittings and a decent seal to put refrigerant in. I was able to find the Imperial 182F service valve kit, so I'm able to mess with it.


How do I somehow end up with all the hard problems?

pcb 

Riv is pretty much tucked-in now. Went more all-in Dura-Ace with 7800 10spd-only cassette hubs on Velocity Aerohead rims, and 7900 10spd indexed dt shifters. Gearing is now 40/24 x 12-30t. Friction shifting over the 8spd cassette wasn't a lot of fun, so now I've got a little more range, more D-A, and less shifting frustration.







'72 Hetchins Italia got reunited with its original Campy NR 36h high-flange hubs, built with new Pacenti Brevet rims by Earle Young/WI.







And the '71 Raleigh Pro Track also got Earle wheels, with vintage Campy NR 36h high-flange hubs and new Pacenti Brevet 650b rims. The hubs were originally a qr road set, but I swapped the axles over to nutted track. Cog is spun on the freewheel threads, with a bb lockring snugged against it, so it shouldn't spin off with abandon.

The Grand Bois Cypres EL 32-584 tires are pretty close to 35mm wide on the wider Brevets, which is a lot more cush over the 700c wheels and 26mm tires from the first build. Clearance at the chainstays is liveable with the wheel all the way back in the dropouts/ends.